Final Exams

Initially, I didn't think that final exams at the University of Auckland would be worthy of an entire blog entry. Little did I know, New Zealand takes exams seriously, very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that there is an entire department at the university dedicated to exams: The Office of Examinations.

During one informal review session with the TA of one of my classes, a student asked, "why are all of the proctors so old?" Being accustomed to having the professor who taught the course present at the final exam, I was a little surprised to hear that proctors were used. I assumed that the comment about the age was based on some general observation that the proctors were all adults instead of the younger PhD, MD and MBA candidates that we are used to seeing around campus.

When it came time for my first exam, I laughed out loud when two women who appeared to be in their 70's ushered us into the exam room. Later on I learned that aged proctors is not a generalization at all. During the exam period at universities all over New Zealand, the average age of people on campus probably increases by at least twenty years. Dozens, maybe hundreds of septuagenarians hurry around the campus with boxes of exams and pitchers of water.

Upon arriving at the exam room, I was informed that I had committed one of the worst exam sins possible. Thou Shalt Bring Thy Student ID. I hadn't known about this little rule and was surprised to learn that my driver's license was insufficient proof of identity. I was old-manhandled out of line and told that I would be able to take the exam but I would be escorted to the Office of Examinations for Identity Verification after the exam. The nice woman at the Office of Examinations acknowledged my foreign ignorance but proceeded to ask me four or five specific questions about my life and academic career in order to confirm that I was, in fact, me.

Other interesting final exam rules:
-No cell phones or ipods are allowed in the exam room.
-If you do bring in a phone and it makes a noise during the exam, you automatically fail the exam.
-Exam room assignments are not posted until the morning of the exam.
-Professors must submit final exams to the Office of Examinations more than a month prior to the actual exam.
-During the exam, proctors will not respond to students unless they use one of three hand signals: "T" sign for toilet, drinking motion for water, nose-tap for tissue.